Another OEM+ Review

[ravisraval]

Finally getting around to posting my story!

A preface: I'm a professional singer of classical music for a while now, majored in music, play a few instruments, and in general am very, very picky about my sound.
The stock FR-S sound system was so bad I literally wouldn't listen to anything while driving. Knew I had to upgrade.

I ordered the OEM+ 400 system. Due to a delay, they upgraded me to the reference series with added rear speakers, which I believe are from their SL series. Wow! Most companies in my experience would tell the customer to deal, but this was a significant upgrade at no cost to me.
After installing the system, I listened to a range of genres - everything from my usual classical choral stuff, to edm, to classic rock, to jazz, to symphonies, to out there stuff with tuvan throat singing. Again, let me say that I'm quite picky. I wasn't super happy with the sound, although it was certainly better than stock. To my ears on the natural setting, the sound stage was a bit off - vocals sounded muffled, and in general I found the mid-range frequencies to be lacking. Certain high frequencies can also be harsh/fatiguing, although this is extremely difficult to get around due to the nature of the position of the tweeters, the acute angle of the windshield, and the small interior volume of the twins.
I spoke with Sandy at OEM+, and after some discussion he sent me another amp to test out a different EQ. I also decided to get their upgraded dash speakers. This resulted in a huge boost to the mid-range and filled in the sound very well.
An audio engineer friend of mine and I fiddled with settings for a while, and we eventually decided that "feel" made most genres work the best, along with a few bass/treble changes as needed.

I am, quite frankly, blown away at the customer service from OEM+. I'm sure that 99% of customers would be very happy with their setup from the get go, and they will go above and beyond for the picky people like me. A+

Thanks for all of your help OEM+ - my drives are much more enjoyable!

[TofuJoe]

I'm glad you got sorted out, but it's a little bit disconcerting how much extra equipment and effort were needed to make the system sound good. Bonus points for rocking some Tuvan throat singing.

[Impureclient]

Every time I see this thing mentioned, I can't figure out why people don't purchase the parts separately and do the same for like 1/4 of what this system costs.
Does it all come down to the fact that the sub just fits in there neater? I sat in a FR-s with in it there and was not impressed. I installed a 8" Infinity sub
in a clean matching carpet homemade enclosure with an amp and spent about $250 for everything and haven't even replaced the rest of the speakers because
it sounds fine. At this point, the sub will shake the garage door of my house. Add in another $115 for a Polk Audio DB6501 component set to get that "quality sound"
and that is almost exactly 1/4 of what this OEM costs. I just don't get it.

[ajcarson11]

Originally Posted by Impureclient

Every time I see this thing mentioned, I can't figure out why people don't purchase the parts separately and do the same for like 1/4 of what this system costs.
Does it all come down to the fact that the sub just fits in there neater? I sat in a FR-s with in it there and was not impressed. I installed a 8" Infinity sub
in a clean matching carpet homemade enclosure with an amp and spent about $250 for everything and haven't even replaced the rest of the speakers because
it sounds fine. At this point, the sub will shake the garage door of my house. Add in another $115 for a Polk Audio DB6501 component set to get that "quality sound"
and that is almost exactly 1/4 of what this OEM costs. I just don't get it.

A decent DSP processor runs $500+. That, along with the fitted enclosure is where the money is. The stock headunit spits out a biased signal to cater to stock speakers. You aren't going to do yourself any favors just upgrading speakers IMO. You'll need the DSP and some amplification.

The rest is R&D, and yes, it can be overpriced, but you're not getting away with anything better quality for under $800.

[Astral Abyss]

Originally Posted by ajcarson11

A decent DSP processor runs $500+. That, along with the fitted enclosure is where the money is. The stock headunit spits out a biased signal to cater to stock speakers. You aren't going to do yourself any favors just upgrading speakers IMO. You'll need the DSP and some amplification.

The rest is R&D, and yes, it can be overpriced, but you're not getting away with anything better quality for under $800.

Custom wiring harness with all connectors installed that match the factory wiring, and cut to the right lengths, all speakers have factory adapters installed, woofers pre-installed in drop-in custom enclosures. Those bits and parts add up quick, so does the wiring itself. Ever tried to make a custom tweeter mount or woofer mount that fits behind the factory grill, doesn't hit the glass, or look like ass? What a pain. If it's not something you do regularly, it's not likely you'll have the skills or tools to do it properly. I'll gladly pay someone to do that for me.

With the OEM setup, 6 hours work and you're done, everything fits and works, nothing rattles, it's stealthy, you keep your trunk space, and it sounds good.

That's the draw for me and a lot of people.

[ajcarson11]

Originally Posted by Astral Abyss

Custom wiring harness with all connectors installed that match the factory wiring, and cut to the right lengths, all speakers have factory adapters installed, woofers pre-installed in drop-in custom enclosures. Those bits and parts add up quick, so does the wiring itself. Ever tried to make a custom tweeter mount or woofer mount that fits behind the factory grill, doesn't hit the glass, or look like ass? What a pain. If it's not something you do regularly, it's not likely you'll have the skills or tools to do it properly. I'll gladly pay someone to do that for me.

With the OEM setup, 6 hours work and you're done, everything fits and works, nothing rattles, it's stealthy, you keep your trunk space, and it sounds good.

That's the draw for me and a lot of people.

I agree with you. I'm talking $800 in parts. My point with my statement is that everyone assumes that you can do better for the money. They don't factor in all of the little things. But end in end, you aren't going to do better for under $800 in parts, not including the additional cost of labor and R&D (wiring connectors, fitting parts correctly, etc)


Also, an easy thing to miss, but the OEM+ system comes with a 10 year, 100,000 mile warranty. You won't get that with a $200 amp, or DSP.

[ravisraval]

Originally Posted by TofuJoe

I'm glad you got sorted out, but it's a little bit disconcerting how much extra equipment and effort were needed to make the system sound good. Bonus points for rocking some Tuvan throat singing.

To clarify - it sounded pretty good out of the box, and I think nearly anybody would be quite satisfied. I happen to take my audio a bit more seriously than most.
Hah yea, singing two pitches at once freaks people out.

[Astral Abyss]

Originally Posted by ajcarson11

I agree with you. I'm talking $800 in parts. My point with my statement is that everyone assumes that you can do better for the money. They don't factor in all of the little things. But end in end, you aren't going to do better for under $800 in parts, not including the additional cost of labor and R&D (wiring connectors, fitting parts correctly, etc)


Also, an easy thing to miss, but the OEM+ system comes with a 10 year, 100,000 mile warranty. You won't get that with a $200 amp, or DSP.

Sorry, should have said I was just adding on to what you stated. The things you mentioned plus the stuff I mentioned easily add up if you bought them seperate to $1000. The custom sub box with matching sub and DSP accounting for close to $1000 on their own.

[TofuJoe]

@ravisraval Thanks for clarifying. I'm considering getting one of these systems soon. I've also heard Huun Huur Tu live in concert a few times, and also Sainkho Namtchylak. I loves me some khoomei.

[MuseChaser]

As a fellow musician (classical violinist and jazz pianist professionally) and audio fussbudget (been living on both sides of the mic in acoustic genres for decades), I've got to admit that my car, ESPECIALLY the FR-S, has never been a place where I've indulged my audio anal-ity. As long as the sound is relatively balanced ( just say NO to BOSE bandpass one-note subs, phase garbage to simulate soundstage, blah blah), and not overly screechy or boomy and muffled, I'm OK. Why in the world would anyone want to dump big bucks into car audio? With the sound of our engines, it's sort of like looking for the best sound in your living room while running a vacuum cleaner. Who cares? Enjoy your MUSIC.. worry about supremely accurate sound reproduction elsewhere.

Just my 1/20 o' a buck..

Barry

[vroom4]

Originally Posted by MuseChaser

As a fellow musician (classical violinist and jazz pianist professionally) and audio fussbudget (been living on both sides of the mic in acoustic genres for decades), I've got to admit that my car, ESPECIALLY the FR-S, has never been a place where I've indulged my audio anal-ity. As long as the sound is relatively balanced ( just say NO to BOSE bandpass one-note subs, phase garbage to simulate soundstage, blah blah), and not overly screechy or boomy and muffled, I'm OK. Why in the world would anyone want to dump big bucks into car audio? With the sound of our engines, it's sort of like looking for the best sound in your living room while running a vacuum cleaner. Who cares? Enjoy your MUSIC.. worry about supremely accurate sound reproduction elsewhere.

Just my 1/20 o' a buck..

Barry

1/20 * 1 = 0.05. Oopsy

[MuseChaser]

Originally Posted by vroom4

1/20 * 1 = 0.05. Oopsy

Just allowing for inflation... or a little subliminal suggestion that I feel slightly more strongly than .02 on this issue.. ...

Barry

[vroom4]

Hahah, nice recovery!

[Packofcrows]

Originally Posted by Impureclient

Every time I see this thing mentioned, I can't figure out why people don't purchase the parts separately and do the same for like 1/4 of what this system costs.
Does it all come down to the fact that the sub just fits in there neater? I sat in a FR-s with in it there and was not impressed. I installed a 8" Infinity sub
in a clean matching carpet homemade enclosure with an amp and spent about $250 for everything and haven't even replaced the rest of the speakers because
it sounds fine. At this point, the sub will shake the garage door of my house. Add in another $115 for a Polk Audio DB6501 component set to get that "quality sound"
and that is almost exactly 1/4 of what this OEM costs. I just don't get it.

Can you make a sound build that will match and surpass OEM+'s? Link it to me if you can(PM), maybe Amazon or something. I'm curious.